Union Mills Homestead

Back in the 1800s, at the end of the harvest season, manyfarmers celebrated the success of another year of crops and food in the larder for the winter.On the Shriver farm in Union Mills, they celebrated with a watermelon frolic and roasted corn."They used to dig a hole in the ground and cooked the corn in the husks," said Esther Shriver, executive director of the Union Mills Homestead, the 1797 farmhouse and estate of the Shriver family."We didn't want to dig a hole in the ground, so we had cast iron stoves made just for the corn roasts," she continued.

This is 4-H Fair week in Carroll County, which means a trip to the Ag Center any day will provide an abundance of activities for all ages to enjoy.While every day at the fair will bring a highlight event, there is one day when Carroll County senior citizens will have the opportunity to strut their creative stuff.On Thursday, fair-goers will be able to see a variety of arts and crafts made by senior citizens in the Ag Center's Medford building.Charlene Fischer, community services program coordinator for the Westminster Senior Center, said that many seniors bring a wide range of handiworks to put on display.

In keeping with Christmas tradition, the 22nd annua Poinsettia and Greens Open House will take place this weekend at the Union Mills Homestead.From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow, and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, the historic homestead will display an assortment of holiday greenery and decorations for sale.Esther Shriver, executive director of the homestead, said the Tannery Building and Grist Mill will be filled with all types of greens, wreaths, holly, mistletoe and poinsettias."This year, for the first time, we have added live, fresh-cut Douglas fir trees in the greens sale," Mrs. Shriver said.

The county's fields are full of succulent corn ripe for the picking. Instead of steaming, Union Mills Homestead will be roasting those ears Saturday. To achieve that old-fashioned flavor, chefs will cook the corn, still in the husk, on iron stoves, until it's done to the peak of perfection. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., guests are invited to sample all they can eat of the roasted ears. Fried chicken and watermelon are also on the menu.The Homestead and Silver Run/Union Mills Lions Club are sponsoring the annual festival.

Corn on the cob ranks high on the list of favorite summertime foods. If it happens to be one of yours, consider attending the Old Fashioned Corn Roast Festival on Saturday at the Union Mills Homestead in Westminster.The corn will be roasted in its husks on iron stoves just as it was at the Homestead back in the early 1800s. Then, corn festivals and watermelon frolics were a tradition in the Shriver family, which built the Homestead.Saturday's event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., is sponsored by the Union Mills Homestead Foundation and the Union Mills-Silver Run Lion's Club.

Next time you visit Piney Run Park, be sure to take along your camera and plenty of film: The fourth annual Piney Run photography contestis on.Get some good shots of a fisherman on the lake reeling in a big one. Catch the kids enjoying one of the many activities the park sponsors. Get a night shot from the pontoon boat. Photograph the sunrise through the cattails. Zoom in on the delicate petals of a wildflower.Photos must be taken within the park's boundaries and must have been shot between October 1990 and October 1991.

Set amid the prosperous farms of the rolling hills in the Mid-Atlantic Piedmont region is the Union Mills Homestead complex.Listed inthe National Register of Historic Places, the Homestead is one of 21historic houses featured in the book "Great Houses of Maryland" by Susan Stiles Dowell.The main house was begun in 1797 by Andrew and David Shriver as asimple four-room, dog-trot log house and grew to be a 23-room structure.In 1797, they also built a large four-story brick grist mill,powered with water diverted from the Big Pipe Creek.

The whir of electric saws drowning the bird song around the Union Mills Homestead was one of the construction crew's few concessions to the 20th century.A group of Amish carpenters is completing the rebuilding of a nearly 200-year-old tannery in Carroll County that an arson fire took about 15 minutes to destroy last year.Brad Nace's Pennsylvania firm, Edward H. Nace Inc., specializes in restoration and new construction according to early American styles and techniques. "It's something that we're sort of familiar with," he said.

Union Mills Homestead will open its 1991 season with the 22nd annual Flower and Plant Market and Antique Show, Saturday and next Sunday.In addition to the sale there will be guided tours of the 1797 house, home to six generations of the Shriver family, and the restored 1830 brick grist mill. Lunch can be purchased on the grounds.Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission to the grounds is free, but there is a small charge for tours of the museum and for the antique show.

UNION MILLS - The state fire marshal is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information about the arson fire that destroyed a historic building at the Union Mills Homestead early Thursday.Only some charred wooden beams and pieces of the metal roof remained of the building, which was almost 200 years old and had been used as a drying shed for the tannery.The other four buildings at the homestead, a community built around a grist mill in 1797, were not damaged.Bob Thomas, deputy chief state fire marshal, said the fire was started in two spots -- inside the front door and outside in front.